Three days after saying her departure from Barstool Sports activities, comic Grace O’Malley formally joined Alex Cooper’s Unwell Community.
The transfer marks a contemporary chapter for O’Malley after a tumultuous friendship drama with Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia, with whom she’d beforehand co-hosted the podcast PlanBri Uncut on Barstool Sports activities.
On Thursday, Unwell celebrated O’Malley’s arrival with an Instagram put up: “@gracekomalley IS UN-F***ING-WELL!!! Welcome dwelling,” the announcement learn, accompanied by a carousel of photos and clips of O’Malley celebrating with associates.
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Cooper, a former Barstool star turned media mogul, beforehand teased the collaboration on TikTok — two days after O’Malley formally confirmed on Dec. 16 that she was leaving Barstool Sports activities for good.
O’Malley’s new gig follows a public fallout with LaPaglia that in the end led to the top of their podcast. On Dec. 11, LaPaglia appeared on the BFFs podcast, which she co-hosts alongside Josh Richards and Barstool founder Dave Portnoy. On that episode, she attributed the fallout, partly, to her relationship with nation singer Zach Bryan, from whom she cut up in October.
Right here’s a glance again on the relationships and selections that led to O’Malley’s departure from Barstool and her transfer to Unwell.
The rise and fall of ‘PlanBri Uncut’
O’Malley joined Barstool Sports activities in 2022 because the co-host of PlanBri Uncut alongside her childhood finest good friend, LaPaglia, who had initially began the podcast as a solo enterprise in faculty. The present went on to turn out to be vastly profitable, even making Spotify’s 2024 Breakout Creators record.
Regardless of the success, selections had been made behind the scenes to cancel the podcast — the final episode was posted on Oct. 10, although LaPaglia subsequently used the platform to debate her breakup with Bryan in an Oct. 22 video.
On Dec. 5, LaPaglia posted on social media that she was “engaged on bringing again some model of PlanBri.” O’Malley expressed shock, telling her followers the subsequent day that she thought they had been going to place out a shared assertion in regards to the podcast ending. She additionally harassed that she hadn’t heard about any plans of manufacturing a brand new podcast.
“That was my first time listening to about this,” O’Malley shared in a three-part Instagram Story on Dec. 6. “I most positively didn’t foresee any of this EVER ending.”
O’Malley went on to say that the choice to finish the podcast “was not a mutual determination,” although within the “grand scheme of issues, it’d really find yourself being the suitable one.”
On the BFFs podcast, LaPaglia insisted that the duo had been in fixed communication about mutually ending the podcast, which LaPaglia mentioned she wished to finish as a result of she felt “it was like a discussion board to bully me [and] I couldn’t take it anymore.”
5 days later, O’Malley formally introduced her departure from Barstool Sports activities.
“I wished you guys to listen to from me first that that is my final day at Barstool,” she wrote on her Instagram Tales. “I’m so grateful to everybody on the firm and to [Portnoy] for taking an opportunity on me.”
The falling out — and the way Zach Bryan suits in
A big pressure on the pair’s friendship got here throughout LaPaglia’s on-again-off-again relationship with nation singer Zach Bryan. LaPaglia later described the connection as “emotional abuse,” claiming on the BFFs podcast that their dynamic took a toll on her friendships: “I misplaced my finest good friend,” she mentioned.
Shortly earlier than LaPaglia and Bryan’s breakup in October, listeners had been upset when it appeared that LaPaglia was victim-blaming O’Malley for being sexually assaulted as a teen.
Later, LaPaglia claimed on BFFs that O’Malley “by no means defended me” towards the net hate she obtained — which was compounded by the victim-blaming incident and her frequent podcast absences, as she was typically touring with Bryan. LaPaglia claimed that O’Malley was conscious of the abuse she was enduring behind the scenes in her relationship with Bryan.
Based on LaPaglia, she confronted O’Malley in Might about her disappointment, to which O’Malley allegedly mentioned, “Properly, I do know the reality. Everybody is aware of that we’re finest associates and every part you’ve accomplished for me,” LaPaglia described on BFFs.
O’Malley, for her half, had no bother calling Bryan a “hick” and a “motherf****er” throughout an look at a stay comedy present in November.
Throughout a separate comedy set captured on TikTok final week, earlier than the Unwell announcement, O’Malley introduced up the state of affairs with LaPaglia once more.
“Sorry if I’m not myself tonight, I’m going via a divorce,” she mentioned on the Helium Comedy Membership in Indianapolis on Dec. 12. “It’s a quite common sort of divorce with just some minor variations. For instance, it’s not a wedding, it was a 15-year friendship. She’s not retaining the home, she’s retaining the podcast.”
Dave Portnoy weighs in
The day after O’Malley confirmed she was leaving Barstool Sports activities, the corporate’s founder gave his ideas on her departure, in mild of on-line commenters accusing him of favoring LaPaglia over O’Malley.
“Emergency stroll and speak — everyone is aware of Grace stop (Monday),” Portnoy mentioned in a Dec. 17 video on X. “I’m nonetheless getting DMs from individuals being like, ‘Dave, you f****ing fired her. You’re a scumbag for selecting sides.’ Individuals are saying her message was subliminal like she was actually compelled out.”
Portnoy went on to say that LaPaglia referred to as him in October to tell him she wished to finish the podcast as a consequence of her clashing friendship with O’Malley.
“I do not know what individuals need Barstool to do,” he mentioned. “You’ve two associates, 20 years, each staff, who ended up f***ing hating one another. So it sucks. It is in all probability for the very best that O’Malley goes on her approach and who is aware of with Bri.”
Grace’s new chapter with Unwell
Grace O’Malley introduced that she is becoming a member of the Unwell Community. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Photos for iHeartRadio)
Days after leaving Barstool, O’Malley discovered a brand new dwelling at Cooper’s Unwell Community. Cooper, who famously broke away from Barstool together with her hit podcast Name Her Daddy, welcomed O’Malley with open arms.
“You’ll be able to cease tagging me,” Cooper teased on TikTok, hinting on the collaboration. By Dec. 19, the partnership was official, with Unwell saying Grace’s arrival on social media. It’s unclear what her position on the community can be.
What’s subsequent for the previous BFFs?
O’Malley’s transfer to Unwell marks a big step in her profession, however whereas she embarks on this new chapter, LaPaglia stays at Barstool — reportedly engaged on a revamped model of PlanBri Uncut, in line with her put up on Dec. 5.
